Radio America Online News Bureau

Obamacare

Trump-McConnell Spat Foreshadows Intense 2018 Primaries

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Trump are publicly exchanging barbs about what is reasonable to expect the Congress to accomplish, and longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie says the the frustration is ure to boil over into the 2018 primary season.

The back-and-forth started on Monday, when Sen. McConnell told a Rotary Club audience that the GOP Congress is getting hammered by its base for accomplishing little because Trump has set aggressive expectations.

“Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven’t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point,” said McConnell.

“Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the Democratic process,” he added.

Wednesday afternoon, Trump pushed back via Twitter.

“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had “excessive expectations,” but I don’t think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?,” tweeted Trump.

Some in the Washington media circle characterize the dispute as signs of a Republican civil war or at least dysfunction.  Viguerie slightly disagrees.

“There’s probably not a lot of love lost between President Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell.  But the reality is they have to get along,” said Viguerie.

But Viguerie is quick to point out that the sharp divisions that emerged within the GOP in 2016 are still there.  He says GOP base voters will hold Republicans responsible for not repealing Obamacare after passing bills to do so in the Obama years, and he says Americans won’t care much about the specifics of why it didn’t happen.

He further asserts that even after seven years of vowing repeal, the GOP was still caught flat-footed in 2017 when the opportunity to do it came about.

“I suspect the number one reason is they didn’t think they’d be in the White House.  I think most of the Republicans from Washington felt that Hillary would win the election and, truth be told, a high percentage of them probably preferred Hillary Clinton to President Trump,” said Viguerie.

As a result, he suggests many Republicans are actively guarding the status quo.

“Quite frankly, they’re terrified that he may really  follow through on his promise to drain the swamp and pour salt over it so that nothing will ever grow there again,” said Viguerie.

“President Trump and candidate Trump campaigned strongly against the Washington establishment.  He called for draining of the swamp.  If anybody could be considered the mayor of the swamp, it would be Sen. Mitch McConnell,” said Viguerie.

And Viguerie says the fissures exposed during the 2016 GOP primary season will emerge again soon.

“This is a battle that is going to be taken into the 2018 primaries, where lots of Republicans are going to run against Sen. McConnell and the Washington establishment.  This is probably just the first few, early shots of a big battle between the establishment and the president,” said Viguerie.

He says that friction could imperil some important pieces of legislation throughout the rest of this Congress but that it would be wrong to declare this a do-nothing Congress.  Viguerie says judicial confirmations alone, from the Supreme Court to the appellate and district benches, will make a huge impact on America’s future.

And he says Republicans and conservatives can breathe easier over one other key factor.

“There will be many bad things that won’t happen because Hillary is not president,” said Viguerie.

A funny thing just happened on the way to this 2018 showdown, however.  While pro-Trump Republicans Roy Moore and Mo Brooks are challenging appointed GOP Sen. Luther Strange in this month’s Alabama primary in the race to fill the term of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Strange just won Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement.

“Senator Luther Strange has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama. He has my complete and total endorsement!” tweeted Trump on Tuesday.

Viguerie says grassroots conservatives should not read too much into that.

“He does need to have Mitch McConnell’s support and that of the Senate Republican leaders.  To go against an incumbent senator, even though he was appointed, would probably be a bridge too far,” said Viguerie.

But he says those special circumstances should not dampen expectations for a fierce intraparty fight in 2018.  Republican are defending just eight of the 33 races on the ballot, but Viguerie says there will be spirited fights to determine the nominations in many of those states.

“This unrest at the grassroots that Trump so successfully connected with and tied into in this last presidential election is just building steam.  We have a disruption that’s going on in American politics and I think we haven’t seen anything yet,” said Viguerie.

And Viguerie says that means tensions will only rise among the GOP factions over the next year.

“Not at all.  I think whatever unrest, distrust, disconnection between the grassroots Republican voters and their leaders is going to do nothing but grow.  The failure of the Republicans to repeal Obamacare just adds gasoline to that fire,” said Viguerie.

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What’s Behind Murkowski’s Obamacare Flip-Flop?

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Sen. John McCain is getting most of the blame from the right and praise from the left for his vote to scuttle Senate legislation to repeal parts of Obamacare, but another GOP member is coming under fire for reneging on her vow to repeal the law and offering a weak explanation for her reversal.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, campaigned twice on ditching Obamacare and even voted for the straight repeal in 2015, when the bill was vetoed by President Obama.

This year, Murkowski opposed the motion to proceed on the health care debate and then consistently rejected a wide variety of GOP amendments, including the “skinny repeal,” which McCain famously opposed.  Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was the other no vote.  Of the three, only Collins opposed the 2015 repeal as well.

After seven years of railing against Obamacare, why did Murkowski end up as a deciding vote to save it?

“Number one, she’s a big government leftist.  Anything that grows government, grows federal control, she’s for,” said Joe Miller, who ran against Murkowski in 2010 and 2016.

In 2010, Miller defeated Murkowski in the Republican primary, only to see Murkowski launch and narrowly win a write-in campaign in the general election.  In 2016, Miller was a late addition to the Libertarian ticket and came in second to Murkowski by a wider margin, while still outpacing the Democrat in the race and a well-funded independent candidate.

Murkowski’s approach to the recent Obamacare repeal votes is especially galling to Miller, given the prominence of the issue in their 2010 campaign.

“Most Alaskans that have political contact remember what she did in 2010.  She actually called me out and said I was a liar about her position on Obamacare because we had a YouTube clip of her waffling statements on Obamacare.  We said, ‘Look this gal isn’t really for full repeal,'” said Miller.

“So she doubled down and said, ‘Yes, I am for full repeal.’  Of course, what did she do when push came to shove?  She actually voted not to repeal even on the skinny act,” added Miller.

Murkowski voted for repeal less than two years ago, so has something changed or was that earlier vote purely political?

“When the vote actually counts, you know how she’s going to vote.  She knew at that point, of course, that Obama was going to veto it.  So there was no cost to what we would call her principles – those of expanding government.  That was entirely a consequence, in our assessment, of knowing where the outcome of that vote was going,” said Miller.

Murkowski added more confusion to her shifting position on Obamacare by refusing to explain why she did it.  After the early morning vote, Murkowski dodged efforts by The Daily Caller to get some answers.

“I am really very tired, and so you’re asking for a very thoughtful response.  I actually appreciate your question, but rather than respond to each and every individual request from all of these cameras around me, I’m going to take a pass,” said Murkowski.

After laughing heartily at Murkowski’s comments, Miller said he was not surprised.

“That is so typical Lisa Murkowski.  That’s what she does.  I mean what do you you do when you’re confronted with a lie?.  You evade.  You don’t answer the question, and that’s what she’s done there,” said Miller.

“She knows who she is.  She’s not motivated by any principle of good government.  She motivated by principles that at least constitutional conservatives and libertarian-oriented people are against,” said Miller.

Miller believes the vast majority of right-leaning voters in Alaska want a full repeal of Obamacare and he suspects they won’t forget what Murkowski did.

“I think it’s woken up a segment of Alaska.  Hopefully, they’ll remember it in five years but we’ll wait and see,” said Miller.

“If this continues to incur cost to the average American as it already has in increased health care costs, increased premiums, and loss of benefits, then of course the memory is still going to be there,” said Miller.

But while Miller is perfectly happy to point out his frustrations with Murkowski, he says the problem is bigger than one senator or even the three GOP members who killed health care reform for the short term.

“I think it’s wrong to just focus entirely on Murkowski, although that’s kind of my area of expertise since I ran against her.  It’s really the system of government in D.C.” said Miller.

Miller minces no words when it comes to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, whom he blames in part for the results in 2010 and for the failure of the Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.

“I saw what he did to me in 2010.  Mitch McConnell is the reason that the United States has Lisa Murkowski.  He and his colleagues stirred up [the write-in campaign] with Lisa Murkowski to defeat us,” said Miller.

“I think Mitch McConnell likes the ACA.  I think it’s all a scam when he says he is against it.  If you think he didn’t count the votes before that vote, then you really don’t know Mitch McConnell,” said Miller.

“This is an ingrained problem with people out there that call themselves conservative Republicans, or Republicans, and they have absolutely no principles that are connected with the party platform, and they’re scamming the voters,” said Miller.

Miller says a successful repeal of Obamacare would put the GOP in dominant political position.  Instead, he says the party is in huge trouble.

“The Republican Party needs to get it’s head screwed on straight.  Leadership is where it starts.  Right now there is none.  I think if we had done the right thing on ACA, there’s a real chance that it could have grown in the future.  I don’t see that now,” said Miller.

In addition to the changes Miller wants to see at the national level, he is also intent on ripping control of the Alaska GOP from big government Republicans like Murkowski.

“I think she can be defeated.  It’s going to take a real grassroots effort in Alaska to clean up a lot of stuff in this state.  The establishment has controlled the state for a number of decades.  Every once in a while we’ll see a brief glimpse of sunshine.  We has Gov. (Sarah) Palin for a couple of years.  But for the most part, that’s not happened.  It’s time for a change and maybe this is what’s going to do it,” said Miller.

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The Obamacare Trump Card

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With Senate Republicans unable to pass a health care bill, President Trump might be able to shake up the debate and motivate swift congressional action by ordering the end of the Obamacare exemption for lawmakers and their staff members.

As Obamacare was debated in 2009 and 2010, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, proposed an amendment that would require all members of Congress and their staff members to be subject to the new law.  Eventually, that amendment got watered down to allow exemptions for committee staff members.

Columnist John Fund says lawmakers and office staffers soon realized they didn’t like how the new law impacted them.

“They quickly discovered as the exchanges were being set up that the exchanges were going to prohibit the payment of subsidies to anyone with an exchange policy who was getting that policy from their employer.  In other words, you could have your own policy, but you couldn’t have your employer pay for it,” said Fund.

Before long, lawmakers and their employees were looking for special favors from the president.

“That meant that Congress would lose about 70 percent of its subsidies for health care.  They were, of course, traumatized by this.  They went behind the scenes to President Obama, who quietly made a call to the Office of Personnel Management.  That’s the group that manages all federal employees,” said Fund.

“[The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM,] decided that the exchange would include Congress and its staff, that Congress qualified for a ‘small business exemption,’ which meant that it had fewer than 50 employees.  Well, Congress has a thousand employees, so that’s preposterous.  This was clearly an illegal interpretation of the law,” said Fund.

Of course, Congress has no interest in addressing that misinterpretation of the law.

“It has persisted because Congress doesn’t want to go and vote on reimposing the same restrictions that all Americans labor under with Obamacare on itself.  In other words, it doesn’t want to do it in public.  It wants to do it more sneakily behind the scenes,” said Fund.

Fund says if Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, really wanted to take a principled stand on Obamacare, he would have focused on this issue instead of his vote to kill the so-called skinny repeal last week.

“Rather than John McCain voting against Obamacare reform and shutting the whole process down, if John McCain had really been courageous what he would have done is offered an amendment on the Senate floor, saying whatever happens, Congress should not be exempt from Obamacare.  He didn’t do that,” said Fund.

After Obama directed the OPM to exempt Congress and the staffers, then-Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, repeatedly pushed legislation to reinstate the requirement for the rules of Obamacare to apply to everyone on Capitol Hill.

Not only did neither party act on his efforts, but some lawmakers were so irate that they asked staffers to draft legislation to remove the exemption for any lawmakers who supported Vitter’s bill, as well as the staffers for those members.

That idea went nowhere but Fund says it typifies the attitude of too many officials in Washington.

“What’s sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander.  They believe they’re above the law.  They don’t come out and say that because it sounds awful in a democracy.  But the bottom line in Washington is you watch what people do, not what they say,” said Fund.

The good news, says Fund, is that President Trump can reverse this policy just as easily as President Obama put it in place.

“It wasn’t even an executive order.  Believe it or not, it was just a phone call to the Office of Personnel Management saying, ‘You work for me.  You issue this,'” said Fund.  “Donald Trump could literally pick up the phone tomorrow and declare Congress is now covered by Obamacare fully and completely.”

A poll conducted by Independent Women’s Voice just prior to Obamacare’s implementation in 2013 shows 93.7 percent of American voters wanted Congress to abide by the rules along with every other American.

“The only ones who don’t think it’s unfair are the friends and family of Congress,” quipped Fund.

However, Fund says there is one condition under which Trump should consider allowing the exemption to continue.

“I think the best way to get Congress to, shall we say, see the light is to reform Obamacare for everyone.  Let Congress keep its exemption if other Americans can do the same thing,” said Fund.

But given the entrenched polarization in Congress, would threatening to remove the exemption really move the needle?

“If Donald Trump took this issue to the people and said, ‘I am sending a bill to Congress that will transform health care and reform Obamacare, and included in it is the provision that Congress should be covered by Obamacare and I demand a vote on it,’ Congress is going to have to do something,” said Fund.

Fund says Trump would be wise to give Congress fair warning rather than to rescind the exemption in a surprise, but he believes the president needs to hang this threat over lawmakers’ heads.

“Before Trump did it publicly, he should meet privately with members of Congress and say, ‘Look, I’m putting you on notice.  Fair warning.  I might do this.  Let’s work out something now and let’s get something to the floor that we can vote on, so I don’t have to do this,'” said Fund.

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How the Obamacare Flop Impacts Tax Reform

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The implosion of the Senate’s attempt to address Obamacare also makes effective tax reform more difficult, but the leader of the nation’s largest grassroots taxpayers organization is still optimistic big things can get done.

But make no mistake, repealing the Obamacare taxes was supposed to grease the skids for the tax reform effort.

“The task has not been made easier by the lack of progress on Obamacare repeal and replace, but we’re going to have to approach this with a lot of vigor right now.  The American people are waiting to see that this Congress and this administration can get something comprehensive done,” said National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp.

How does the failure of the Obamacare repeal specifically impact the tax reform push?

“We’re going to have to deal with some of the Obamacare taxes in some fashion, through tax reform or outside of tax reform simply because several of those Obamacare taxes directly effect conventional income tax rates,” said Sepp.

“I’m talking about, for example, the earned income surtax of 0.9 percent, also the net investment income tax of 3.8 percent.  Those types of taxes will actually increase the rate that members of Congress are trying to lower over the long term,” said Sepp.

Nonetheless, Sepp is bullish, even after watching the flop on healthcare in Congress because it appears congressional leaders and administration officials are all singing from the same songsheet this time.

“That means lower tax rates, simpler tax filing procedures, making sure that small businesses don’t pay a higher tax rate than larger ones and, in fact, should pay a lower rate.  There are also things that will help to address the lack of competitiveness of our companies overseas and the tax disadvantages there,” said Sepp.

Sepp is pleased that the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are working in tandem on legislation rather than crafting completely separate bills.  He also says GOP friction should ebb greatly now that all the major players agree to stop pursuing the Border Adjustment Tax, which would place taxes on goods entering the U.S.

In addition, Sepp is excited about Republicans trying to drop the corporate tax  rate from 35 percent to somewhere between 15-20 percent, and he says the rate for small businesses should be even lower.

He also is hopeful that Congress can remove the massive paperwork burden for business owners.

“We also need to look at how business claim their expenses and write them off.  This is an incredibly complex area of the tax code.  It amounts to anywhere between 30-50 percent of the paperwork burden that a business faces,” said Sepp.

On individual tax policy, Sepp wants to see Congress pursue much lower tax rates in exchange for removing the vast majority of deductions that are currently available to taxpayers.  He says rates really need to plummet before that trade is a good deal for most Americans.

“The rates range from 10 percent to over 40 percent currently.  We need to get the rates down even lower, five percent or even zero if we expand the standard deduction and perhaps a top rate of 30-35 percent.  If we do that, the trade off of deductions will be worth it,” said Sepp.

Sepp stresses that the status quo is not an option.  He says America suffers more each year as America fails to use the tax code for our economic advantage.

“Tax reform needs to happen because companies are inverting every day.  They’re taking their headquarters overseas and with it a lot of profits that could be taxed here.  The tax code is getting more complex every year.  Even if we don’t pass new laws, implementing old ones and designing all the regulations around them add to that burden,” said Sepp.

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GOP Obamacare Debacle, Scaramucci’s Loose Screw, Politics Plunge NFL Ratings

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America condemn Republican Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski for failing to deliver on their campaign promises to repeal and replace Obamacare during a vote late Thursday night, while also stressing the mistakes made by GOP leaders and the major flaws in the “skinny repeal”.  Jim mocks new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci for threats and vulgar comments about his colleagues, underscoring already fractious conditions in the new administration.  In an attempt to end the week on a good note, Jim and Greg discuss a new poll showing that more fans stopped watching the NFL last season because of the national anthem protests than for any other reason.

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Sessions Supporters Rally, Healthcare Hypocrisy, Will Spicer Dance With Stars?

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud Republicans for backing Attorney General Jeff Session even in the midst of President’s Trumps invective against him, including the warning from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that there is no time left in 2017 to consider another person as attorney general. They express their continuing disgust as six Senate Republicans who voted to repeal Obamacare in 2015 refused to do so now. And they fume as former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor admits Republicans never believed they could repeal Obamacare if they took back control of Congress but used voter anger and expectations to win elections. Finally, rumors are swirling that former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer might join the cast of the ABC reality show, Dancing With the Stars.

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‘Tone Deaf Up in the Bubble’

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Senate Republicans appear unable to pass a straight repeal of Obamacare or a more comprehensive plan, and one of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress says the GOP either needs to do what it promised or prepare to watch the rest of the Trump agenda wither away.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he still plans to hold a vote on repeal, identical to the one that passed Congress in 2015.  However, four Republicans are already opposed, including three who voted for the the 2015 plan which was ultimately vetoed by President Obama.

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, are the ones now opposing the plan they backed two years ago.  Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is also opposed, but she also opposed the 2015 bill.

For those pounding the table for repeal, the dashing of hopes in the Senate is stunning.

“I thought there would be some movement toward the 2015 plan, but then the three senators who previously voted for the 2015 bill came out and said they were going to vote against the 2015 bill.  That is fairly shocking,” said Rep. Dave Brat, R-Virginia, a member of the House Freedom Caucus and the House Budget Committee.

“When you vote 50 times to repeal and you say you’re going to repeal, then it’s fairly simple.  You ought to do what you told the American people you were going to do.  So now these folks are really, really hurting the Republican brand,” said Brat.

He says the GOP needs some serious soul-searching.

“What do we stand for?  Do we stand for small federal government?  Do we stand for free markets?  Do we stand for fiscal responsibility or are we just going down the Democrat path and bankrupting the country?” asked Brat.

“The rest is just pure politics and I don’t care for that realm.  The first principles are what made us the greatest country on earth.  You put Adam Smith and James Madison together and you get some great outcomes.  We’re departing from those first principles every day,” said Brat.

He says what many Republicans are focused on in Washington is a far cry from what voters want from them.

“I just don’t understand how you can be that far off the reservation politically and that tone deaf to what the American people want.  Everybody back home is just yelling to get it done.  We’re once again tone deaf up in the bubble,” said Brat.

Brat is also frustrated by how Republicans have tortured a simple policy approach into something far more complicated.

“Once you change the definition of repeal…to a health care thing run by the federal government with all sorts of subsidies and billions of dollars for other programs attached, you’re getting too far away from Republican first principles.  The messaging hasn’t been good because we keep twisting the meaning of common sense words,” said Brat.

Brat is also concerned about how the failure to pass health care legislation will impact other major priorities in this Congress, especially major tax reform.  He says between not eliminating Obamacare taxes and the expected scuttling of the border adjustability tax, Congress is already starting with a two trillion dollar disadvantage.

As a result, the Trump administration is now adjusting it’s push for a corporate tax rate.  Instead of dropping it to 15 percent, Brat says the president’s team is now gunning for the 20-25 percent range.

He says the GOP simply cannot screw up tax reform.

“The worst thing we can do is to goof up tax reform and not get this economy rolling again.  Everything hinges on that,” he said.

Brat still hold out hope for a health care bill since President Trump is still energized to get something done, although Brat suggests the president has been more “transactional” in his approach and needs to be more specific about what he wants.

However, Brat is not enthused about bringing Democrats into the talks since that would lead to government in health care.

“I think he’s starting to recognize that when you move toward the Democrat side, the policy end up utterly complex and fails,” said Brat.

The congressman also laughs off the assertion of Democrats that Republican opposition to Obamacare – and not the law itself – is responsible for uncertainty that drives up the cost of premiums and deductibles for many Americans.

“What’s a central planner going to say about the monopoly.  It’s never their fault because they own it,” said Brat.  “They have to give that kind of response because they don’t have a free market system that is sustainable over the long run.”

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GOP Flip-Floppers, Trump’s 2nd Putin Meeting, Mensch’s Russia Madness

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America shake their heads in disgust as a straight Obamacare repeal appears doomed in the Senate, due to opposition from multiple Republican senators who voted for the very same bill two years ago – when they knew it would be vetoed.  They also react to reports that President Trump engaged in a dinner conversation with Vladimir Putin without any other members of his staff, including a U.S. translator.  And they wonder if an intervention is necessary for liberal writer Louise Mensch, after she tweeted that unnamed people might seek the death penalty for White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon due to his supposed espionage on behalf of the Russians.

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‘They Have Promised This for the Last Four Election Cycles’

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Republican hopes of repealing or even drastically reforming Obamacare appear more bleak than ever after enough lawmakers emerged in the past day to scuttle an amended health care bill and sink a promised vote on a repeal bill.

Nonetheless, free market health advocates believe there is a way for this Congress to make headway while the GOP still controls the levers of power in Washington.

Moderates and conservatives are glum Tuesday.  Senate Republican leaders were clinging to hopes of squeaking their amended bill through, even after Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced their plans to vote against the motion to proceed to the bill, albeit for completely different reasons.

However, on Monday evening, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, publicly opposed the plan for not doing enough to eliminate taxes, reduce premiums, or kill regulations.  With all 48 Democrats firmly opposed, four GOP defections spelled defeat for the legislation.

“I think there are just too many factions within this Republican caucus and with only two votes to spare, there just was not enough room for differences of opinion,” said Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner.

She says moderates were not willing to give up the federal Medicaid dollars.

“You’ve got the moderates who are very worried about losing the incredibly generous Medicaid match that their states are getting.  Most of them are from states that expanded Medicaid.  Remember, the federal government initially paid a hundred percent of the cost of the usually joint federal-state program if the states would put more people on their Medicaid rolls,” said Turner.

She says conservatives had their own reasons to balk at the larger GOP bill.

“Many conservatives are worried, rightly, about the regulations in Obamacare that are so difficult to reach through this narrow pathway that the Senate has to pass legislation with only a simple majority of votes,” said Turner.

“There’s some conservatives, like Rand Paul, who feel that any effort to try to do something else to provide subsidies to people going forward is really perpetuating Obamacare,” said Turner.

In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would bring forward a bill to repeal much of Obamacare and trigger a two-year sunset to give lawmakers time to craft a replacement.  While hailed by conservatives, those hopes were also soon dashed as Collins and Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, revealed they would not vote on a repeal without seeing a replacement bill.

Both Capito and Murkowski voted for the same repeal bill in 2015 despite the absence of a replacement plan.  President Obama vetoed the earlier repeal.

Turner says lawmakers act differently when a bill has no chance of becoming law than when it does.

“They knew President Obama was going to veto it, so there’s a difference between messaging and governing,” said Turner.

With Senate leaders unable to bridge the narrow divide between conservatives and moderates and the straight repeal apparently headed to defeat, many on the right believe it’s time to move on to other priorities.

Turner says that is not an option.

“They can’t not do something on repealing Obamacare.  They have promised this for the last two election cycles.  Every single member is going to have to go to his or her constituents and explain why, after all of this debate over Obamacare, they can’t get it done,” said Turner.  “They known they have to do something.”

President Trump now suggests he may just let Obamacare collapse and blame Democrats since they did nothing to solve the problem.  Turner says that strategy won’t work.

“They are going to be blamed for the millions of people that would lose coverage if nothing is done because these exchanges are failing, insurance companies are signing up to provide coverage next year because they are losing so much money providing so-called insurance under Obamacare rules that don’t work,” said Turner.

“Republicans own it.  How can you have the White House and both houses of Congress and say that you don’t own this problem,” said Turner.

That being said, Turner is also slamming Democrats for asserting that Republican promises to repeal Obamacare are creating uncertainty among insurers and that is why premiums and deductibles are skyrocketing, rather than the Obamacare provisions themselves.

“That is just so completely beyond the realm of reality.  The reason that costs are going up under Obamacare is because of the flawed structure of the bill that, for one thing, encourages people to wait until they’re sick to sign up for coverage and that provides all sorts of opportunities for people to drop coverage and game the system,” said Turner.

She still holds out hope that lawmakers will send power back to the states to address health care problems in the most effective way.

“Washington-centralized solutions are not the answer, whether Republicans are developing them or Democrats are developing them,” said Turner.

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‘All Because of This Stupid Obamacare’

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Senate Republican leaders are still scrambling to craft a health care bill capable of attracting 50 GOP votes, and while  success appears elusive right now, a prominent House conservative still believes a good bill can get passed thanks to the pressure from voters and the resolve of President Trump.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the revised Senate GOP will be revealed on Thursday.  The first bill was shelved after several conservatives said it didn’t do enough to repeal Obamacare, while half a dozen or more moderates worried that it didn’t provide enough Medicaid spending or other federal assistance.

Democrats are increasingly brazen about their pursuit of single payer, a euphemism for government-run health care.  They also accuse Republicans of seeking to repeal various Obamacare taxes as a means of benefiting the rich while millions of poor people scramble for coverage which would no longer be mandatory.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, says that’s complete fiction.

“It’s the rank-and-file, middle class and people that are just struggling to get by, that have been hurt more over the last eight years than in the last hundred years.  They’re the ones whose health care is hurting.  It’s not the rich guys.  We’re not going to help them.  They’re all set,” said Gohmert.

“We’ve got to help that just don’t have much, that are often referred to as poor and the middle class, that are working and doing everything to provide for health care for their families,” said Gohmert, who says those families are very stressed over skyrocketing premiums they can’t afford and don’t even provide much in benefits because their deductibles are also stratospheric.

However, Gohmert is fully aware of the problems the GOP is having in cobbling together 50 votes for anything in the Senate.  While he says most Republicans have good intentions, others are gumming up the works with demands for big spending.

“There are others, including some Republicans, who say, ‘If we’re going to give people their freedom back, then you’re going to have to give us this many billions of dollars.  Those people, if they want their freedom, when it comes to health care, they’re going to have to pony up tens of billions of more dollars before we let them have their freedom back,” said Gohmert.

“Really?  Republicans are going to make people buy their own freedom?  That’s just untenable,” said Gohmert.

Despite the rock road on Capitol Hill, Gohmert believes something effective can make it out of Congress, and he says the resolve of President Trump is the main reason for his optimism.

“One of the things that gives me that hope is having a president that says he’s not going to take no for an answer,” said Gohmert.

While Democrats expound on the horrors that would accompany a GOP health bill, Gohmert says there’s no theorizing about the damage done by Obamacare.  He says he hears about it all the time from constituents.

“Business owner after business owner in my district and from around the country have complained directly saying, ‘Look, this is killing us.  We want to hire more people, but we can’t because of Obamacare and that 50-employee limit you’ve got and the part time hours that were changed,” said Gohmert.

“People come up to me in tears saying, ‘Look, I’ve had to go to two part-time jobs now and I lost the benefits I had, all because of this stupid Obamacare,'” said Gohmert.

He also says seniors are feeling the brunt of President Obama’s slashing of more than $700 billion in Medicare spending.

“(Before Obamacare, if) they needed a procedure, they could get it done immediately.  Now, they’re given months to wait on a waiting list.  This is where rationed health care goes and it’s what happens when the government is put in charge of people’s health care,” said Gohmert.

Gohmert says he hears from many supporters who are resigned to single payer as a result of Republicans being unable to get a bill passed.  The congressman says he will never concede that.

“I’m not giving up.  There’s too many people in this Congress who want to do what we said.  We’ve just got to push the leaders of the Senate, and maybe our own leader some, to get it done effectively,” said Gohmert.

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